Truly one of the Great World War II Films

Rating: 10/10 (22 August 2009)

Since I was a kid in the 1950s I have been in awe over what sacrifices our men made on D-Day and throughout WWII. It's impossible to put yourself in their place at that time. It all comes alive in "The Longest Day". This is and will always remain, a stunning film. It is brilliantly pieced together by three plus directors covering the German, French, English and British points of view. It has an all-star cast of anyone who was anything in 1962, the year it was made. Told in brilliant documentary style, it begins in occupied Europe focusing on the French Resistance and the Germans obtaining secret D-Day plans. Then we see the Allies in England planning, organizing and preparing for the Invasion, many already on board ships awaiting for the go-ahead. The weather plays a role in itchy anticipation. Everyone awaits the 'word' from Ike (Gen. Eisenhower). Soon the action begins with unbelievably memorable scenes i.e. the German seeing the entire Allied fleet out the window of his bunker; parachutists landing in the middle of the German occupied town of St. Mere Iglise; a patrol of Germans and Americans passing each other in the dark unaware of each other; a glider landing smack in front of a German foxhole and it goes on from there and never gets boring or bogged down. Filming in black and white paid off in spades. It does contain inaccuracies but they are mostly minor. It does not have quite the intensity of "Saving Private Ryan" but the film delivers and has become a classic.